Barrington, Woodstock families welcome teens from El Salvador
An emotional welcome played out Thursday at O'Hare International Airport, when suburban foster families greeted a pair of Salvadoran teens who will be staying with them while they receive lifesaving cardiac care.
The medical missions organization Healing the Children partnered with Midwest Heart Specialists, based at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, to sponsor the teens.
They brought over 14-year-old Elisa and 15-year-old Manuel from their native El Salvador for the much needed cardiac care. Neither had ever left their native village before, let alone traveled outside of the country. Healing the Children asked that the teens' last names not be used.
Dr. Raymond Kawasaki, of Midwest Heart Specialists, suspects both suffer from a condition known as supraventricular tachycardia or SVT, which is characterized by an irregular heartbeat that can lead to dangerous circumstances.
“Out of nowhere, your heart rate soars to maybe 200 beats per minute,” Kawasaki says, “causing such discomfort and dizziness that it's not unusual for a person to pass out. That's what may be happening, but we'll have to see.”
The teens were quiet and frightened when they arrived at O'Hare, but they were in good hands. Both families that volunteered to host them for the duration of their treatment are experienced foster families.
Steve and Reese Mates of Barrington Hills brought Manuel back to their home. Steve Mates is an emergency physician who works in Milwaukee, while his wife, Reese, is president of the Noon Rotary Club in Barrington.
Through Rotary, the couple has hosted two exchange students, including one from Germany and another from Chile. Manuel is their first medical mission student, but they were eager to participate, they said.
“It's nice to be able to help someone and give them a chance for a normal life,” Steve Mates said. “We'll be treating him like he's one of the family.”
Tim and Marcia Gummerson of Woodstock are hosting Elisa. She is the ninth foster child they've welcomed through Healing the Children, and several of their previous children come back for follow-up treatment.
The Gummersons say they remain in touch with nearly all of the children they've hosted, and every one has returned to a normal life.
“We really enjoy the children,” says Marcia, a former special education teacher. “We figure, it's something we can do, so why not?”
Advocate Good Shepherd's Kocourek Cardiac Center and its cardiac specialists were selected because it is one of the few centers in the region that offers high-definition 3-D echocardiography imaging technology to map the children's hearts.
This is the sixth charity case in which Good Shepherd and Midwest Heart Specialists have donated their care and resources.
“The children might never be able to get this kind of treatment in their native country,” says Jeff Degner, director of Healing the Children's Indiana-Illinois Chapter, which is based in Barrington. “Both the hospital and Midwest Heart's doctors volunteered their services without hesitation. It's a real blessing.”
Hospital officials expect the teens to stay for approximately one month, and they probably won't be enrolled in school.
Both teens do not speak English, and they had never seen snow before they arrived.
“We do not speak Spanish, but by the time we master enough phrases to communicate with them, the kids are usually much more proficient in learning English,” Marcia Gummerson adds, “so we never really get any better with our Spanish. We're always starting at the same point.”
The Indiana-Illinois chapter of Healing the Children started 24 years ago, and up until 2004 it was housed within Sunnyridge Family Center in Wheaton.
Since standing alone as its own organization, the chapter typically sponsors four to five children per year from Third World countries for lifesaving medical treatment.
They also support medical missions who travel to underdeveloped countries. For information, visit htc-il.org/chapter.html.